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I was first introduced to Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, later to become Pope Benedict XVI, in the late 1980s when he was visiting Jerusalem. Teddy Kollek, mayor of Jerusalem, was eager for me to meet with the cardinal, telling me that I would discover a very different person from the image portrayed in the general media. He was so correct.

Pope Benedict XVI was deeply committed to advancing relations with the Jewish People. He was the first Pope ever to invite Jewish leaders both to the funeral of a pontiff and, above all, to the celebration of his own coronation. Very early in his pontificate Benedict received a leadership delegation of my organization, American Jewish Committee.

At AJC Global Forum 2024, over two thousand leaders and hundreds of young leaders from around the world will convene at the global Jewish advocacy event of the year in Washington D.C. Together, we will tackle the most pressing issues facing the Jewish people, America, Israel, and the world.

Amid rising antisemitism in the United States, data from a new American Jewish Committee (AJC) public opinion survey reveals key information on the state of mind of American Jews following the hostage situation at a synagogue in Colleyville, Texas last year. A majority of American Jews—or 54% percent—said they heard a lot or some about the Colleyville crisis. Of those U.S. Jews, 18% percent felt a great deal less safe at the time, 33% felt a fair amount less safe, and 36% felt a little less safe after the eleven-hour hostage crisis. Only 13% of the survey respondents who had heard at least some about the situation said they did not feel less safe.

AJC applauded the U.S. Senate for overwhelmingly passing, by a vote of 98-1, the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015.